Ghost Stories
Released by Varèse Sarabande, 2018
40 Tracks with a Total Running Time of 60 min.
Music by Frank Ilfman

With a title like Ghost Stories, you can pretty much tell, or at least hope, that the score will be filled with creepiness to chill your spine. Unfortunately this score is not like that, at least in the traditional sense. There is nothing where it seems like the composer said, “okay, here comes the creepy part!”. But instead, he fills out this long release with some very somber and quiet pieces, a lot with piano, that still is able to build a nice sense of atmosphere. It might not be overtly creepy, but it still has its fingers in there.

For the most part, this is definitely not a score that will come bursting out from your speakers. Very reserved, quiet, slower, but still with those darker elements coming through every now and then. Could just be a lower note on the piano, but it sets the mood quite nicely. There are a few tracks, such as The Chase, where the pace and volume picks up to build up more of a faster paced tension, but then soon goes back to the more subdued pieces. You also have tracks like The Yellow Dress, which uses no melody or even music per say but builds an incredible sense of audible style and tension from just … noises. Brilliant example of talent here. Same goes with the track Maria’s Theme, which includes some vocals that really raising the chills.

One of the things that helps builds the atmosphere are the little audio clips from the movie. It adds a nice little flair to it. There are a few song tracks, like Why? by Anthony Newly, or even the classic Monster Mash by Bobby “Boris” Picket.